Patrick Bailey comes through with familiar big swing in Giants’ win vs. Dodgers

SAN FRANCISCO — It was subtle, but Patrick Bailey had a huge hand in getting Landen Roupp through the fifth inning on Tuesday night and allowing him to qualify for a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Roupp had lost his command in the fourth, and he threw a 3-2 fastball to the leadoff hitter in the fifth that sailed above the top of the zone. Bailey did what he does better than anyone in the world, yanking the pitch back into the heart of the zone and fooling the home plate umpire, along with the rookie No. 9 hitter who surely doesn’t have a lot of leeway to challenge pitches. A leadoff walk would have ended Roupp’s night, but the stolen strikeout kept him on the mound and he got through the fifth, helping make life a bit easier for the bullpen. It was the type of quiet contribution that Bailey makes multiple times a night, even in a world with ABS. It’s why the Giants were so hesitant to make any sort of change behind the plate when Daniel Susac got off to a historic start, but sometimes, subtlety is not enough.Sometimes, the statement needs to be much, much louder. That was Bailey a night later, when his three-run blast stunned the Dodgers and clinched a 3-0 win as well as the series. It was the latest in a long line of massive swings for the catcher, who has been one of the worst everyday hitters in the big leagues the last couple of seasons, but also has a flair for the dramatic. PATRICK BAILEY THREE-RUN DINGER FOR THE LEAD pic.twitter.com/KhkmJAuqc8 — SF Giants on NBCS (&commat;NBCSGiants) April 23, 2026 What has enabled Bailey to be so much better in the clutch the last couple of seasons?“It’s pretty simple,” he said. “God didn’t put a spirit of fear in me.”It was appropriate on this night that Bailey brought up his faith, because that was a big part of the winning rally. It came from his manager, who chose an interesting path in the seventh inning of a scoreless game.With two runners on and no outs, Tony Vitello had plenty of options. He could have pinch-hit for Drew Gilbert, who struggles against lefties. He also could have hit for Bailey, who brought a .145 average into the night. Instead, Vitello had Gilbert bunt both runners over for his struggling No. 9 hitter. “That’s huge, the confidence he has in that situation means a lot to me,” Bailey said. “Obviously I have a history of coming through in those situations and I’m glad that he’s gotten to see that.”Bailey crushed a slider from Jack Dreyer into the seats in left and immediately flung his bat aside. Vitello said hitting coach Hunter Mense felt good about the matchup and Bailey’s ability to put the ball in play with a runner on third. Nobody could have predicted this, though. “He’s had big moments late in games here against some pretty damn good arms,” Vitello said. “More than anything I think it was just good to see him in that moment. That’s probably the loudest cheer I’ve heard from that locker room (postgame). I think they knew it was coming for him and it came at a pretty good time there.“It’s weird. I’m not trying to be funny or anything like that, but when they showed the replay it was a cocky swing. I’m not talking about celebrating a home run or anything. It was a confident, slow, cocky swing.”Vitello never had much doubt about sticking with Bailey in that spot, in part because of what he was doing with his main job. Tyler Mahle threw seven dominant innings in his fifth and best start as a Giant, and Caleb Kilian and Ryan Walker shut it down. The Dodgers have the best OPS in baseball by more than 40 points, but they have just seven hits and one run through 18 innings at Oracle Park. Shohei Ohtani struck out seven on the mound, but also saw his on-base streak end at 53 games.“We’ve been on the attack, which is great,” Bailey said of the pitchers. “We’ve been filling it up. Our defense has been outstanding the last two games. The starters have been great. The bullpen (too). I think guys are just confident in their stuff right now.”Leading that staff will always be Bailey’s main priority — that’s something that Buster Posey has made clear to him — and his ability to do so has kept him in the lineup through some difficult stretches at the plate, particularly from the right side. The homer on Wednesday was just his second against a left-handed pitcher in the last three seasons.The other one? A walk-off grand slam last year, also at Oracle Park, also against a left-handed reliever, and also against the Dodgers. Talk about making them count.“It’s not anything he hadn’t done before,” Vitello said. “It’s just, baseball is a pain in the butt, because it’s not what you can do, it’s how many times can you do it. Here’s to him feeding off that a bit and consistently taking that swing.”Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Patrick Bailey comes through with familiar big swing in Giants’ win vs. Dodgers

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